Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Magid
This is a really well done video of the pessach story. It is somewhat graphic though and I know I screened parts out when showing it to Channah.
What holiday is this?
Deck the halls with rolls of tin foil (oy yoy yoy yoy yoy oy yoy yoy yoy)
Once a year we celebrate a time to get the whole family together. A time where extended family comes together from all parts of the world to spend one special night together.
Kids get 2+ weeks off school and spend every single minute of that time telling you they are bored then complaining when you give them something to do. Every tourist attraction in the country is trying to get you to come visit- but who has time for any of that?
Money is spent decorating the home with shiny things to make it holiday ready (that will be thrown out a week later). We pull out pots and pans and dishes that are only used for this special time of year. For weeks leading up to the holiday season we clean like maniacs trying to make sure not a single crumb is out of place for that special night before finally, the morning before, throwing up our hands and saying "That's it! I have done all I can do! Anything still here is just not my problem!" Cooking special foods and strange combination we would never even think of any other time of year.
We get ready on the eve of the holiday- Everyone is wearing new, seasonal clothing. We make sure our families are pressed (if not necessarily starched) to within an inch of their lives. Care is taken to make sure children nap so they can be shown off at later points in the evening.
The big night finally comes. Everyone sits around the table with the soft candlelight bringing an warmth to the festivities. There are things to keep the children occupied so the adults can converse (while stopping regularly to find out what the children have learned in school- the children take special pride in doing so and spend an inordinate amount of time singing songs they learned in class). At midnight one finds themselves eating wafers and drinking wine while singing in a foreign language.
Finally, the night omes to a close with an old guy with a big beard going house to house to visit anyone who puts out a drink for him.
Of course I am talking about pessach. What else could it be?
Thank you Meyer for the thought behind this post
Once a year we celebrate a time to get the whole family together. A time where extended family comes together from all parts of the world to spend one special night together.
Kids get 2+ weeks off school and spend every single minute of that time telling you they are bored then complaining when you give them something to do. Every tourist attraction in the country is trying to get you to come visit- but who has time for any of that?
Money is spent decorating the home with shiny things to make it holiday ready (that will be thrown out a week later). We pull out pots and pans and dishes that are only used for this special time of year. For weeks leading up to the holiday season we clean like maniacs trying to make sure not a single crumb is out of place for that special night before finally, the morning before, throwing up our hands and saying "That's it! I have done all I can do! Anything still here is just not my problem!" Cooking special foods and strange combination we would never even think of any other time of year.
We get ready on the eve of the holiday- Everyone is wearing new, seasonal clothing. We make sure our families are pressed (if not necessarily starched) to within an inch of their lives. Care is taken to make sure children nap so they can be shown off at later points in the evening.
The big night finally comes. Everyone sits around the table with the soft candlelight bringing an warmth to the festivities. There are things to keep the children occupied so the adults can converse (while stopping regularly to find out what the children have learned in school- the children take special pride in doing so and spend an inordinate amount of time singing songs they learned in class). At midnight one finds themselves eating wafers and drinking wine while singing in a foreign language.
Finally, the night omes to a close with an old guy with a big beard going house to house to visit anyone who puts out a drink for him.
Of course I am talking about pessach. What else could it be?
Thank you Meyer for the thought behind this post
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Channah, channah, channah
Jason- And what happened then?
Channah- Hashem split yam suf so b'nai yisrael could go inside of it. What's his name went first
J- Who?
C- I forget
J- Nachshon
C- no he had a longer name
R- Nachshon be Aminadav?
C- see, Ima knows!
J- then what happened
C- they all crossed
J- and did they get all yucky and sandy when they crossed?
C- yes.
J- no Channah, they crossed on dry land.
R- Hashem made it like tile so they could walk easily
C- no. they got sand in their shoes.
Moral of the story- God can split the sea, but not even he is impressive enough to keep sand out of an Israeli kid's shoes...
Picture was taken last week on the train into Tel Aviv.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Plagues
The kids are trying to learn as much as possible before the Pesach vacation.
Channah: The Jews who did not want to leave Egypt, they were dead in Makot Hoshech (Plague of Darkness).
Me: Why?
Channah: Because they couldn't die in Makot Bechorot (Plague Death of the 1st Born), they were not all Bachor (first born).
Me: Why, would they not want to go to Israel?
Channah: I don't know.
Channah: The Jews who did not want to leave Egypt, they were dead in Makot Hoshech (Plague of Darkness).
Me: Why?
Channah: Because they couldn't die in Makot Bechorot (Plague Death of the 1st Born), they were not all Bachor (first born).
Me: Why, would they not want to go to Israel?
Channah: I don't know.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
A night out!
Last night I went out for the evening with a cousin of mine from Rishon. We had planned to go to the anti-segregated bus rally in Jerusalem, but some major traffic meant that we only got there once it had ended. Truth be told, I think we both knew it was not going to happen as we decided at 6:50 that she would come get me and we would head off to the event that started at 7:30. She lives about 35 minutes from me, and I am about 45 from Jerusalem. You can see how this might not work out so well.
On the other hand, I felt like I had an obligation to try to attend. There are many who see the issue as a dati-Chiloni argument, but that is just not the case. There are a large number of dati-im, likely even the majority(!) who also would rather not have segregated bus lines!
So we went. The two of us could not be more different. She is from my mom's generation- has kids almost my age. As gorgeous as I am not. Chiloni to my dati. Political left winger to my right. Vatikah to my new olah. But we had a wonderful time!
We ended up sitting over coffee at an outdoor patio for about 2 hours just shmoozing.
You did see the difference in location show through though! The jerusalemite waiter was in a t-shirt. My Beit shemesh self was in long sleeves and her TelAviviness was in a winter coat!
Tis much better to try and fail and have a great night out than never to try at all!
On the other hand, I felt like I had an obligation to try to attend. There are many who see the issue as a dati-Chiloni argument, but that is just not the case. There are a large number of dati-im, likely even the majority(!) who also would rather not have segregated bus lines!
So we went. The two of us could not be more different. She is from my mom's generation- has kids almost my age. As gorgeous as I am not. Chiloni to my dati. Political left winger to my right. Vatikah to my new olah. But we had a wonderful time!
We ended up sitting over coffee at an outdoor patio for about 2 hours just shmoozing.
You did see the difference in location show through though! The jerusalemite waiter was in a t-shirt. My Beit shemesh self was in long sleeves and her TelAviviness was in a winter coat!
Tis much better to try and fail and have a great night out than never to try at all!
New Look
New blogger features means we have a bit of a new look around here. If anyone has any trouble please let us know. We might be adding some new static pages (like the how to reach us) page over the next little bit. Not sure about it though.
I think I will also be cutting the tags down to a more manageable number. We no longer really need the ones from before we moved about what we had for sale!
I have added a search this blog option on the top right hand side. This is for the person who kept telling me she "knows she saw a link to something somewhere a few months ago". Enjoy :)
I think I will also be cutting the tags down to a more manageable number. We no longer really need the ones from before we moved about what we had for sale!
I have added a search this blog option on the top right hand side. This is for the person who kept telling me she "knows she saw a link to something somewhere a few months ago". Enjoy :)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Smile Returns
For the passed week I have been getting tons of comments on how happy I look. The last 3 months have been quite a roller coaster ride. The new path my career began to take a year ago seemed to come to a sudden end. Worry about which direction my career would take, the stress of constantly being home, financial worries and weekly humiliating trips to the unemployment office have been draining. For the most part, I have even stopped writing.
About a month ago, behind the scenes pieces began falling into place. While I had hoped that was the direction things were going the uncertainty created a lot of confusion, as I was trying to make important decisions. The contract for my new job was finalized today. It is the first time in my career that I was in a position to negotiate a contract and it is an opportunity with tons of potential.
I am now the Chief Development Officer for www.1quickcup.com It is a start up company based out of New York, that sell coffee for the Keurig brewing system. There are individual pods that are put into the machine and brewed for a single cup of coffee. It allows each person to have the kind of coffee they like without the messy clean up that goes with a traditional coffee pot. There are over 200 flavours of coffee, tea and hot chocolate to choose from including French Toast, Chocolate Glazed Donut, Kahlua and German Chocolate Cake. It is the perfect solution for any office.
My position allows me to use a wide range of talents and abilities. I am handling customer service issues and order processing. I am responsible for maintaining almost 500 eBay auctions, plus what will eventually be even more on Amazon. I am handling some web work on the companies main website. I also have some Project Management responsibilities. My experience in QA, 5 years managing a warehouse and private lessons based on the Dale Carnegie method have all helped me to be a significant contributer in a short period of time. I am getting tons of valuable job experience and my ability to contribute to success of the company will advance my career.
There are pluses and minuses to working from home. This is the best place for me and my family right now. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.
About a month ago, behind the scenes pieces began falling into place. While I had hoped that was the direction things were going the uncertainty created a lot of confusion, as I was trying to make important decisions. The contract for my new job was finalized today. It is the first time in my career that I was in a position to negotiate a contract and it is an opportunity with tons of potential.
I am now the Chief Development Officer for www.1quickcup.com It is a start up company based out of New York, that sell coffee for the Keurig brewing system. There are individual pods that are put into the machine and brewed for a single cup of coffee. It allows each person to have the kind of coffee they like without the messy clean up that goes with a traditional coffee pot. There are over 200 flavours of coffee, tea and hot chocolate to choose from including French Toast, Chocolate Glazed Donut, Kahlua and German Chocolate Cake. It is the perfect solution for any office.
My position allows me to use a wide range of talents and abilities. I am handling customer service issues and order processing. I am responsible for maintaining almost 500 eBay auctions, plus what will eventually be even more on Amazon. I am handling some web work on the companies main website. I also have some Project Management responsibilities. My experience in QA, 5 years managing a warehouse and private lessons based on the Dale Carnegie method have all helped me to be a significant contributer in a short period of time. I am getting tons of valuable job experience and my ability to contribute to success of the company will advance my career.
There are pluses and minuses to working from home. This is the best place for me and my family right now. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.
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